Stagecoach is upbeat inspite of profits fall June 23, 2010 BUS AND RAIL operator Stagecoach is positive about the next year despite posting a 18 per cent drop in full-year pre-tax profits. The transport group’s profits fell to £161.3m from £196.4m after the group weathered a difficult year in its rail and North American bus businesses. In the year ended 30 April, Stagecoach saw its [...]
ANALYST VIEWS: WHAT DO YOU MAKE OF STAGECOACH’S RESULTS? June 23, 2010 MANOJ LADWA | ETX CAPITAL “Despite a series of one-off costs impacting profitability, Stagecoach still managed to post a robust set of full-year numbers. Along with an increase in dividend and positive comments from Fitch, shareholders will be encouraged by plans to expand abroad.” DOUGLAS MCNEILL | CHARLES STANLEY “The numbers are down but are [...]
China’s AgBank sets floor price for listing June 23, 2010 Agricultural Bank of China (AgBank) is understood to have set a floor price for the Hong Kong portion of its $23bn (£15.4bn) stock market listing with key investors agreeing to buy $5.45bn of the shares. AgBank vice-president Pan Gongsheng was quoted as saying the Hong Kong offer will not be lower than HK$2.80 a share. [...]
Iconic Battersea site primed for flotation June 23, 2010 DEBT-LADEN property firm Real Estate Opportunities (REO) will pursue a de-merger of London’s deteriorating Battersea power station, it said as it reported losses of almost £1bn yesterday. The landmark, Europe’s largest brick building, has been derelict for more than a quarter of a century and is in need of financing for redevelopment. REO said it [...]
Izaki buys out Aim listed Atlas Estates June 23, 2010 IZAKI Group, the property firm run by Israeli businessman Ron Izaki, has taken over London and Warsaw-listed Atlas Estates in a deal valuing the Polish investment trust at £265m. Having floated Atlas on the Alternative Investment Market (Aim) in 2006 with co-investors Elran Investments and RP Capital, Izaki upped its stake to 94 per cent [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS June 23, 2010 JP Morgan India Gary-Martin has joined the investment bank as global head of location strategy and performance metrics. Gary-Martin was previously at the Royal Bank of Scotland, where she led the implementation of the government’s asset protection scheme for the bank’s global banking and markets division. She is also president of the City Women’s Network [...]
EUROPEAN RAIL NETWORK ON TRACK June 23, 2010 London and Continental Railways, the state-owned operator of the High Speed 1 railway, is in talks with Germany’s Deutsche Bahn about granting access for train services, its chief executive said yesterday. “We are discussing several options with them,” Mark Bayley said on the sidelines of the Transfin 2010 conference in Barcelona. Deutsche Bahn could run [...]
Oil supplies are sufficient until 2015, says IEA June 23, 2010 RISING oil supplies will mostly offset higher demand over the next five years, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said yesterday in a report that helped push prices lower. IEA data showed the supply-demand picture would be virtually unchanged next year compared with this year, although spare capacity would begin to shrink by 2015. Gas markets, [...]
Kesa back in black despite tough market June 23, 2010 COMET owner Kesa has posted an 18 per cent rise in full-year profit as improved gross margins offset a decline in underlying sales growth. The electricals retailer, which also runs market leader Darty in France, made an underlying pre-tax profit of £81.9m for the year to 30 April. That was ahead of company guidance of [...]
Capital Pubs toasts boost from real ale June 23, 2010 CAPITAL Pub Company has seen a rise in profit – fuelled by real ale sales during the World Cup. The group – which has 28 pubs and has plans to own up to 50 within three years – yesterday reported a 32 per cent profit jump to £2.7m. Revenues rose by 11 per cent to [...]